Saturday, September 30, 2006

Germ zone

I finally figured out where I got this cold I've been dealing with for the past week. It started last weekend when I was in DC. According to this article from this morning's Boston Globe, my hotel room could have made me sick.

When sick hotel guests leave their rooms, they frequently leave something important behind: the virus that gave them their colds.

During an overnight hotel stay, people with colds left viruses on telephones, light switches, and television remotes, researchers said yesterday at an infectious disease conference in San Francisco.

We've all heard about not coughing on people and not sharing cups with people who have colds. Now, apparently, you're going to have to ask if the people who had the hotel room before was sick. Wouldn't that be interesting? When it comes down to it, I agree with Dr. Owen Hendley, University of Virginia Health System, who led the research.

"It's an interesting study," he said. "But they haven't shown infectivity. I'm not going to go around opening doors with my elbows."

How do you feel about this, as a physician? Even if I've never taken immunology and microbiology, I would consider this worthless information. Similar results can be found if we subsitituted "hotel rooms" with "trains," "taxi-cabs," or "school-bathrooms," as long as they were occupied by sick people. Did you know that Lysol funded the study?

doc, don't get me started. did you know if someone with a cold/flu uses your toilet that the flush sends those little microbes up into the air space (where they hang lovingly around for hours). hence, and i am semi kidding, i wanted to invent 'the ass gasket'

where the toilet seat is somewhat hermetically sealed by the user. in other words - the seat has no air gap to the porcelain lip - you flush while still seated. i'm working on the prototype now.

we cruise alot and are very aware of norovirus. antibacterrial stuff does not kill viruses. i take clorox wipes with me to ships, motels, etc. but do not know if it really helps. watch out for the remote control! ewwwww...... bee

Once again, modern science proves that contageous disease is quite contageous. Is the goal for us to stay away from all viruses and never get sick? This is just fuel for the OCD patients out there.

I suspect the ID doctors at this conference went back to their hotel rooms with Lysol. They probably realize, however, that they were exposed significantly more when they were on the airline flight to San Fransisco.

Before losing my mind and applying to nursing school, I was a flight attendant. I was sick all of the time, and anyone from the airlines who says that the air is clean and filtered is full of crap. That may be the origin of your cold.